Iron County has released a second draft of its metallic mining ordinance.

It outlines the process a mining company would need to follow for county approval, and includes a host of regulations and protections.

Zoning Administrator Tom Bergman says the purpose of a local ordinance is to be more specific than state rules can be. For example, he says the draft includes a requirement that a mining company monitor and test nearby private wells.

The Wisconsin DNR is waiting for the next move from Gogebic Taconite, now that the company has stopped fieldwork operations for the year.

DNR hydrologist and project lead Larry Lynch says activity on the proposed mine site wrapped up last month.

“They stopped their data collection in regard to surface monitoring, so right now there’s really nothing going on on the site. They also stopped their road improvement work on one of the access roads.”